How the FBI is using technology to put customers first

Businesses and public sector organisations are under pressure to use technology to put the needs
of customers first.

Companies have learnt the hard way that embarking on IT projects without considering what their
employees or customers really need is a route to failure.

The FBI, Lloyds Banking Group and US health insurer United Healthcare shared their strategies at
an industry conference this week.

Sharing intelligence at the FBI

Since the 9/11 attacks, the FBI has been under pressure to share its information more
effectively with other government agencies.

For the past 10 years it has been has been investing in technology to do just that. Now it faces
an additional constraint – making better use of data at a time of tightening government
finances.

The head of the FBI once said that the information to apprehend the 9/11 terrorists was in
government databases – all that was needed was a method of connecting the dots, said Richard Haley, chief finance officer of the
FBI.

“We have been, since 9/11, on that journey. Early on we reacted by trying to build systems, but
we were building a lot of hardware and a lot of systems that were not getting us to that point,” he
said.

The agency has a relatively small number of agents worldwide – equivalent to a quarter of the
number of police officers working in Manhattan – so using technology to help them work more
efficiently is vital.

Supporting agents in the field

To start with, the FBI made the mistake of developing back-end systems, which were only helpful
to agents when they were in the office. The problem was that most agents spend 90% of their time in
the field.

“We have had to be much more strategic about prioritising, and listening to our customers who
are out there in the field. We can’t invest in products that are not going to work,” he said,
speaking at the Pegaworld conference in
Washington DC.

Sharing information with other government agencies is also a priority, Haley revealed. The FBI
acts as a clearing house, for example, to ensure that law officers in any part of the country can
access fingerprint records held by each state.

Using technology to help FBI agents work more efficiently is
vital

“There are 80,000 police officers in the US, and if someone gets pulled over and the police
don’t have data that someone is a suspected criminal and they let them go, that is a problem,” he
said.

Proactive policing

This focus on sharing and using data more effectively is transforming the culture of the
106-year-old organisation from a largely reactive police force to one that is proactive.

“The mission has changed from a reactive crime-fighting organisation. An event would happen, we
would respond to the crime scene and start an investigative procedure. That was very linear, very
paper driven,” said Haley.

He cited examples of how, in the past, Bonnie and Clyde could rob two or three banks in a day,
or a cyber criminal, sat in their bedroom, could hack hundreds of bank accounts in a few hours.

The days of the FBI hoarding information in a steel drawer are over, he added. “It's about
looking outside to our partners. If someone has a better mouse trap, let’s use that.”

UnitedHealthcare turns to
analytics

US health insurer UnitedHealthcare is turning to data analytics to help it improve the way it
deals with customers.

Now the company is investing in technology to put its relationships with the customer first.

UnitedHealthcare is investing in technology to put its
relationships with the customer first

“It’s really a big transformation for us as the healthcare industry is changing, everything
is going towards what the consumer wants,” said Kral.

The company has learned that small, incremental projects are often more effective than big bang
approaches.

“Let’s demonstrate how this could be done, let’s build a prototype, put it in the hands of
people who use it and get feedback. That has been more effective than grand strategies,” she
said.

There has been a tendency in the past for the company to invest in technology without
considering the real needs of the user.

“When you see a problem in business, particularly a business like insurance, the solution is
always technology. We have rushed quickly to a technology solution, but we have situations where we
have not looked at the people and the process,” she said.

Kral ensures she puts the needs of users first. That means carrying out surveys and looking to
see how the company can improve processes before turning to technology.

Another hard-learned lesson is to make sure that the business is committed and involved in the
IT project all the way through.

Banking on data at Lloyds

Lloyds Banking Group has begun a digitisation programme that will bring together its different
channels.

The company has finished a major project, designed to simplify its IT infrastructures, which
have grown up through its acquisitions over the years.

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